Older adults, defined generally as people age 65 and up, are using marijuana recreationally or medicinally at increasing rates — including about one in five Medicare enrollees, according to a 2022 survey.
In a 1969 Gallup poll, the first time the organization asked about illegal drug use, 4 percent of adult respondents said they had tried marijuana. By 1973, 12 percent of adults said they had tried it, and another Gallup poll four years later concluded the number was up to about 24 percent.
Fast-forward to 2021, when a survey by the United States Department of Health and Human Services found that 46 percent of adults say they have tried marijuana at least once.
Those coming of age in the 1960s and ‘70s have either arrived at retirement or are about to enter that stage of life soon, comprising a demographic that studies show is both returning to marijuana and trying it for the first time. In April 2022, a patient survey conducted by Medicare — which at the time had about 65 million enrollees — found that one in five Medicare recipients uses medical marijuana.
It coincides with the rising number of states that have legalized medical and/or recreational marijuana in the last decade: As of last Thursday, 21 states and Washington, D.C., allow its recreational use, while 17 others have legalized medical uses, according to the Pew Research Center. It’s timely news, given that today is 4/20, a sort of unofficial holiday dedicated to the appreciation of pot.
In New York,…
